I guess today is (once again) "learn something new day." Here we go.

I just took two pics using my phone and wondered if I could transfer them to my MacBook Pro via Bluetooth. So far, I'm unsuccessful.

I've enabled BT on both, and the phone sees the MBP (MacBook Pro) easily. The MBP sees the phone, but only briefly claims a connection. Most of the time it tells me, not connected.

I thought I had them connected, sent files from the file viewer application, and then began to wonder where they would be stored on the MBP. I couldn't find them. After staring at the phone for a moment, I found a notice that said the file transfer had failed.

Am I missing something? Doing something wrong? What the heck??

You have a Google account? Just sent the pics to Google Photos and access them there with your Mac. Easy peasy. My Android phone automatically synchs my pics folder with Google Photos when my phone switches to WiFi when I get home.

Thank you, bigdeal. I'll work on that some.

Is it possible, though, to transfer the files directly? Bluetooth being a device-to-device thing, I figured this would be easy. It looks like I figured wrong.

Try these directions, they're a couple yrs old but has some good info:

https://www.howtogeek.com/2083...android-5.0-devices/

I spose you could text them or email them to the Mac and then just save them.

Try Dropbox too. It runs on any platform and has the option to upload photos automatically from your phone. A basic account is free and gives you 2GB of free storage space. If you manage your photos well, 2GB is more than enough.

 
Have you considered ftp? I know that Mac's have a built in ftp server that is very easy to activate. And Android has ftp apps that can make the transfer to and from its file system.
 
MacOS had dropped the ftp client starting with High Sierra. I haven't checked yet to see if the server is still on there (it's just a plist file that needs a Terminal activation command, not activated by default).
 
 
ETA, the ftp server is gone from High Sierra as well.
 

This message has been edited. Last edited by: henryaz,

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Is it possible, though, to transfer the files directly? Bluetooth being a device-to-device thing, I figured this would be easy. It looks like I figured wrong.

I know some phones (Samsung I think) can handle transfers between phones via NFC, and some camera's can transfer directly to a laptop or storage device via WiFi, but I'm not thinking Bluetooth is going to be an option.

Again, the Google Photos solution works very easily and provides an ongoing backup to the pics directory on your phone.

quote:

Originally posted by lkdr1989:
Try these directions, they're a couple yrs old but has some good info:

https://www.howtogeek.com/2083...android-5.0-devices/

I'll check that out. Thank you. I'm hoping the Android 4.4 on my phone will be compatible.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

Have you considered ftp? I know that Mac's have a built in ftp server that is very easy to activate. And Android has ftp apps that can make the transfer to and from its file system.

MacOS had dropped the ftp client starting with High Sierra. I haven't checked yet to see if the server is still on there (it's just a plist file that needs a Terminal activation command, not activated by default).

That's interesting. Tell me more? I do have High Sierra on this machine; I don't know what a plist file is, as I'm new to Mac.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
That's interesting. Tell me more? I do have High Sierra on this machine; I don't know what a plist file is, as I'm new to Mac.

 
I just checked my High Sierra installation, and the ftp server and client are both gone, poof.
 
Ftp is a very insecure protocol, and I'm sure that's why Apple has moved away from it. But I still consider it OK to use within a local network. But I am also learning to use SCP.